Cooking with Xianyitang dried ingredients
Golden tofu skin wraps jade wood ear, shiitake, carrot and bamboo shoots. Steamed then pan-fried and sliced, the rolls combine savoury mushrooms, gently sweet vegetables and a layered wrapper for a vegetarian sharing plate.
Times are estimates. Allow for the soaking, cooling and chilling shown above, and check the state and doneness described in the method.
Recipe illustrations; measure ingredients using the written quantities.
Pick over and rinse both fungi. Cover jade wood ear with about 500 ml warm drinking water and shiitake with about 600 ml in separate bowls. Soak for about 15–30 minutes until fully expanded with no dry hard centres. Change water and extend if thicker pieces need it; keep total room-temperature soaking under 2 hours, refrigerating covered at 5°C or below for longer. Discard both soaking waters, rinse and drain. Discard anything slimy or with an abnormal smell.
Put the hydrated fungi in a pan with about 1.5 litres fresh water, enough to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer for 40–60 minutes until thoroughly cooked and tender, topping up as necessary. Drain well and discard the liquid. Trim tough wood-ear bases and mushroom stems, then slice about 3 mm thick. Soaking and the later roll-steaming stage do not replace this pre-cooking required by the packs.
Mix the soy sauces, sugar, sesame oil and 40 ml water. Heat 10 ml oil and fry ginger for about 30 seconds. Add carrot, drained cooked bamboo and cooked fungi; fry for about 5–6 minutes. Add about two-thirds of the sauce and cook until the vegetables are tender and the filling no longer releases loose liquid. Spread in a shallow bowl for about 10 minutes until warm. Reserve the remaining sauce to brush the wrapper lightly.
Use thawed, flexible tofu skin as labelled. Layer two roughly 30 cm squares, brushing each very lightly with reserved sauce without soaking. Put half the warm filling near the lower edge, fold in both sides and roll up into a flat log about 20 cm long and 3 cm thick, seam underneath. Repeat with the other two sheets. Keep unused sheets covered with a clean barely damp cloth.
Line a rack with perforated steaming paper. Place rolls seam-side down with space between them. Cover and steam above boiling water for 12–15 minutes until the wrapper is pliable and the centre piping hot; a clean probe should read 75°C for 30 seconds. Lift with a spatula onto a rack for about 10–15 minutes so surface steam disperses. Do not put a dripping-wet roll into hot oil.
Heat some frying oil over medium heat. Start seam-side down, then gently turn to colour both faces and edges, about 8–12 minutes until golden. Fry in batches if necessary and avoid scorching. Rest on a rack for 2–3 minutes, then use a sharp knife to cut each roll into about six pieces. Serve hot without extra sauce to keep the wrapper crisper.
Contains soya in tofu skin and soy sauces, and sesame in sesame oil. Soy sauce commonly contains wheat; some wrappers also contain wheat. Check the actual labels. The Xianyitang dried-ingredient packs state that they are packed in a facility also handling peanuts, tree nuts, sesame and soya. Check the actual labels of every brand used.
Best freshly pan-fried. Cool leftovers promptly and refrigerate covered at 5°C or below within 2 hours. Eat within 48 hours or freeze, and reheat only once until hot throughout. The wrapper softens in storage and may not regain its original crispness.
